


texts

by canterofmysinnings



Series: Barlliams Songfic Challenge 2018-2020+ [27]
Category: Take That (Band)
Genre: Confessions, Coworkers to lovers, Flirting, Happy Ending, Implied drinking, Interactive story with pictures + text, Late Night Texting, Love Confession, M/M, Overthinking, POV Switches, Romantic Fluff, Secret Crush, implied sexual attraction, love advice, mutual crush
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-28
Updated: 2021-02-28
Packaged: 2021-03-12 07:42:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,338
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29756343
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/canterofmysinnings/pseuds/canterofmysinnings
Summary: In this short but sweet Mixed Signals AU, we will follow Robbie trying to deal with crippling anxiety following a late night conversation with his secret crush Gary. His to go person is - of course - his loyal and experienced manager David. A desperate and exhausted Robbie tries to decode a lot of texts and is at a loss. Luckily, David is on the case. Later, we follow Gary's POV.
Relationships: Gary Barlow/Robbie Williams
Series: Barlliams Songfic Challenge 2018-2020+ [27]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1926196
Comments: 2
Kudos: 4





	texts

**Author's Note:**

> This is part 27 of my Transfer from Wattpad series, as well as my year-long Barlliams Songfic challenge.  
> Originally published at: 06/10/2018  
> Originally inspired by the song: Let Love be Your Energy
> 
> Follow Robbie and Gary's romance develop through the many texts and a late-night love confession.  
> This is an original and new format I came up with in 2018. Let's just say it took a very long time to complete, even with the tools at hand.  
> I'm really satisfied with the way it turned out, though.

**March 2017**

Late. Embarrassingly late. 2:55, in fact.  
Robbie sat on his bed with grey bedsheets with his black iPhone in his hands. His mind was completely alert, his thumb scrolling through his older texts. Especially concerning one person. His secret crush Gary Barlow _._

__

Robbie squinted at the white and blue-glowing screen. The words almost didn't make sense to him anymore, he had read them over that many times.

__

Robbie sighed loudly. The more he looked, the further away was he taken away from logic and facts by his mind.  
These were the last texts they had exchanged since yesterday at noon — Robbie simply had no clue how to respond.

After pondering for a while, he realised what to do. He could text his manager David about it, and hear what he would advise him to.  
Mindlessly checking iMessage before going into contacts, he realised that Gary was online.  
_At_ _this time of the night?! Had the man lost his mind?_ Robbie thought with much confusion before a little voice inside his mind said _well, at the end of the day, you're not any better._

Robbie decided that it would seem desperate to text first at these hours of the night, at least to Gary. He knew that David would never question Robbie sending a text to him at any time in the night.  
He refreshed his conversation with Gary and then switched to David's contact.

Robbie's heart skipped a few beats at David's assumption. They'd known each other in a decade, even more, and he still forgot that Robbie also liked...

Robbie breathed in sharply. His fingers left traces of sweat at the phone screen as the conversation continued.

Robbie could feel his stomach flutter with heaps of butterflies as he envisioned Gary's tight body in front of him, as well as his mature face and sexy stubble.

Robbie felt his face grow warmer as his cheeks flushed crimson in the dim lights of his bedroom. He changed his position on the bed to a more comfortable one as he imagined cooking besides Gary a fresh-faced Sunday morning.

Robbie blushed more visibly now and a faint panic evolved inside him as he considered the possibilities.  
He then briefly left the chat to check Gary's status. The green dot was still there. Still online. Robbie reported it back to David, feeling excited and terrified at the same time.

Robbie felt a surge of electricity-like activity run through his veins as he got up from his bed and into his living room. From his small bar, he pulled out a champagne and a glass for himself. At second thought he got one for Gary, too. He put the two glasses next to each other in front of the bottle and watched the sight closely.  
Keeping David's encouragement in mind, he opened Gary's contact again. Staring at the screen, he was in the process of wondering what to write until it dawned upon him that there was a little grey bubble next to Gary's name in the bottom.

_Gary was actively writing to him. Texting first. After all this hassle. At 3 AM._

Robbie inhaled deeply, trying to collect his nerves before he wrote to David again.

Robbie closed David's contact and held his breath as Gary typed.  
Finally, the bubble disappeared and a grey iMessage appeared.

Robbie felt a tingle of joy. Music! A topic they both had in common.  
He was also happy to feel that the conversation was going places considering the awkward place it left off last time.

Robbie felt ever so slightly lightheaded and had to sit down to collect himself before proceeding. His phone alerted him that he needed to plug the charger in. Something which Robbie was glad to do a great leant back, phone in hand.

_**\- Gary's POV -** _

_Someone Robbie thought Gary knew?!_  
Gary was at a loss. He felt excited, but also very confused about this whole thing. Trying to picture Robbie's real-life reaction in this very moment, Gary texted back to get some more clues.

Gary started to get increasingly suspicious. What did this mean? What did any of this mean? He didn't recall him or Robbie ever speaking with anyone like that at all.  
After wondering some more, Gary started to figure... _What if Robbie really meant that it was h..._

Gary looked at the screen, nervously awaiting a reply. A grey bubble popped next to Robbie's icon, and after several minutes it had still not died down until finally...

Gary gasped in awe. What just happened? He had no idea.  
But he felt a warmth spread from deep within, and his cheeks flush.

Gary's insides tingled as blood rushed around his body. He shifted in the chair he sat on, a happy smile across his lips.

Happily exhausted, Gary told Robbie he was coming over and he promptly turned off his phone, leaving it under a blanket. Grabbing his car keys and a snack for them to eat, he rushed out to meet Robbie, who lived a little while from him.

**_\- Robbie's POV-_ **

Robbie was delighted to hear his doorbell go as he'd finished tidying up the place for Gary.  
He hurried to the door and let Gary in.  
"I'm so happy to see you." Robbie gushed as he closed the door behind them.  
"I'm happy to see you, too. I've brought our favourite snack."  
Gary presented a delicious package with homemade crisps.  
"Aw, you didn't have to." Robbie jokingly complained, slowly pulling Gary into a loving embrace.  
Gary accepted the embrace and wrapped his arms around Robbie.  
After they'd done that for a moment, Gary murmured against Robbie's chest:  
"I'm quite thirsty. You said you had something to think?"  
Robbie nodded and smiled an energic smile.  
"Sure. I have champagne and something like that, but I know that you're not quite the drinker so I have some Somersby as well. Your favourite."  
Gary blushed heavily. "Good Lord... You did all this on purpose just so you could get me to come over and get drunk?" Gary smirked mischievously at Robbie, who pulled out a chair for Gary with the expression of a lovestruck puppy.  
"I don't know, maybe I did it because I like you. Come, sit here, I'll find a bowl for those. " Robbie winked and tilted his head at the snacks.  
"I might enjoy it, after all." Gary blatantly flirted and confidently took place on the chair next to Robbie's.

Robbie returned with the bowl and put it on the table. He lightly touched Gary's shoulder to get his attention.  
"Erm... I have to go to the bathroom. I'll be right back."  
Robbie looked apologetically at Gary before he excused himself. Grabbing his phone from the kitchen counter, he entered the bathroom and shut the door behind him. Unlocking his phone with shaky fingers, he found David contact.  
He saw that David had logged off, but at that moment, he couldn't care less. He only cared about one thing, and that was this:

With a heart as light as a feather, Robbie walked back to Gary and left his phone where he'd taken it from.  
"Hey Rob, that was quick!" Gary teased.  
"Yeah. I didn't want to keep you waiting." Robbie sat down and poured Gary his drink.  
Before they clinked glasses, Gary wiggled his eyebrows a little.  
"Robbie. One question more."  
"What's that, Gaz?" Robbie asked, slightly concerned now.  
"Don't we have to be quiet, I mean the neighbours?!" Gary grinned. He felt a little embarrassed at the thought of other people potentially hearing their drunk musings to come.  
Robbie smiled and shook his head reassuringly. "They're all university students and partying tonight. Don't worry, we won't disturb a soul tonight."  
Gary burst into a relieved chuckle.  
"Thank you. I feel like we've got a lot to talk about tonight."  
"We do, indeed," Robbie smirked seductively.  
"Cheers, Robbie." Gary held up his glass to Robbie's.  
"Cheers, Gaz." Robbie let their glasses meet with a crisp clink.

This was to be a good night.


End file.
